Seven officials of the Ministry of Justice who were involved in the handling of Jomsap Sanmuangkote’s car accident retrial case on Thursday (Dec 7) met with police inquiry officers of the 4th Region Provincial Police to give their testimonies.

The seven officers are:

Mr Niti Phurikoop, a specialist on special cases and chief of the working group handling the case

Pol Lt-Col Apimuk Sakthana, a special inquiry officer

Pol Lt-Col Pothiwat Teem-udom

Pol Lt-Col Poonthanat Katethet

Mr Sivarat Pruekpaiboon,

Mr Pongsa Ratri, a lawyer representing Mrs Jomsap

Mr Airawan Sawetkrutra.

Pol Maj-Gen Thanasak Ritthidetpaiboon, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 4, said the seven justice officials would be separately questioned on several pertinent issues in order to determine any of them were involved in the making of fake evidence to support the bid for a retrial of Mrs Jomsap’s fatal accident case.

He clarified that the interrogation was intended to find facts about the case and no charges have been lodged against any of them yet.

Seven more justice officials are due to testify to the same inquiry officers at the Provincial Police Region 4 head office on Friday (Dec 8).

Mrs Jomsap

The police accused Mrs Jomsap, a former schoolteacher, of fabricating evidence to testify in the court to back her petition for a retrial of a car accident in 2005 which killed a motorcyclist. She claimed she was not the driver of the car and she was a scapegoat.

However, the Supreme Court on Nov 17 rejected her petition for revival of the case, reasoning that the witnesses were not trustworthy. The court also suspected a conspiracy to fabricate evidence.

Ruling by the court prompted the police to investigate and charge her of perjury after one fake witness confessed to the police he was hired to be the driver of the car, not Mrs Jomsap.